Led by 30 points from Erin Walsh the Lee women’s basketball team made it four wins in a row on Saturday as they defeated Alabama Huntsville,
Walsh was on fire from the field as she finished 10 of 17 and canned four triples. Abby Bertram added 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists while Carrie Cheeks registered a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The Lady Flames jumped out to a quick 9-0 lead on 3-pointers by Anna Woodford, Bertram and Walsh. Lee hit 9 of 31 from beyond the arc in the contest and shot 46 percent from the floor.
Alabama Huntsville hung around for much of the first three quarters as Lee held a slim 34-32 lead at halftime. Leading by just four at 48-44 a Walsh triple with 2:20 left in the third period helped jump start a 14-6 run for the Lady Flames to put the game out of reach.
“We battled and really had to grind this one out today,” said head coach Marty Rowe. “Give credit to UAH, I thought they played really hard and made us work on both ends.”
The Chargers were paced by 18 points from Baylee Johnson and Loren Foster. Chandler Elder followed with 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds. UAH hit eight 3-pointers and finished 21 of 51 from the field for 41 percent.
The Lady Flames held a 34-25 edge on the glass. Both teams scored 24 points in the paint but Lee held a 10-2 advantage on second-chance points.
Late free throws helped keep the hungry Chargers at bay. Lee finished 18 of 23 from the charity stripe. “I thought we were tough down the stretch and made some key free throws,” noted Rowe.
The Lady Flames completed the season sweep of UAH and improve to 16-6 overall and 11-5 in the Gulf South Conference. The loss drops the Chargers to 4-17 and 3-13 in league play.
“We're excited about the direction this team is going and looking forward to a couple days off before we get back to work on Tuesday,” concluded Rowe.
Lee will continue its three-game road trip as they visit the Magnolia State next week. Lady Flames will travel to Delta State on Thursday and Mississippi College next Saturday.
In the men's game, Lee played one of the best basketball teams in the Gulf South Conference right down to the wire before dropping a 92-86 contest to host Alabama Huntsville on Saturday afternoon before a near capacity crowd.
Coach Bubba Smith said he was extremely proud of his team’s effort. “I thought we competed as well as we have competed all season here this afternoon but Huntsville is a very good basketball team and made some big plays throughout the game.”
The Flames dropped behind by 10 points with 7:21 remaining but refused to fold. They cut the margin down to two points before an unusual call hurt the Flames badly. With the Chargers at the free throw line shooting a one-plus-one situation, apparently one of the officials and maybe the Flames thought it was a two-shot opportunity. The missed free throw rolled out of bounds and after a conversation with the coaches and the referees it was ruled a jump ball, giving the Chargers the basketball. The inbounds pass came in to Brandon Roberts who nailed a 3-point bucket and increased the lead back to five points.
The Flames tried to rally back but the Chargers were almost perfect from the charity stripe, making 27-of-31 attempts. They also nailed 15-of-30 3-pointers and shot 25-of-51 from the field (49 percent).
Lee stayed in the contest behind the determined play of Keevin Tyus who had 26 points and five rebounds. Rico Overall finished with 20 points and turned in one of his better efforts in recent weeks. Overall had to leave the game in the final minutes with an injury. “I might have brought Rico back in the game in the final five or six minutes but I felt like his injury turned into a liability on the defensive end,” said coach Smith.
Jervon Johnson and Cody Farley paced the Flames in double-figure points (10), while Johnson led the team with eight rebounds and Farley finished with seven. Overall, Lee out-rebounded the Chargers 36-28 but while UAH were making their free throws, Lee converted just 11-of-17 from the charity stripe.
The Flames shot a solid 50 percent from the field and 44 percent from 3-point range. Both teams did an excellent job of taking care of the basketball. Lee had 10 turnovers and the Chargers eight.
UAH was paced by senior Seab Webster with 26 points. He converted 5-of-10 triples and was 5-of-7 from the line, going to the glass to grab 10 rebounds in his double-double. Roberts finished with 19. Chase Elliott came off the bench to hit 8-of-9 freebies and finished with 17 points as did Justin Ward who gave his club a lift with three treys and 5-of-5 from the free throw line.
“I’m proud of these guys. We needed four or five stops but just couldn’t get them down the stretch,” said Smith. “Again we came out really flat at the beginning of the second half and that really cost us, but we woke up and played well the rest of the second half.”
The Flames will get a few days to regroup and heal their wounds before continuing the road adventures at Delta State on Thursday. The Senators allowed Huntsville to move back into a tie for first place in the rugged GSC race by upsetting Valdosta State on Saturday afternoon.